Candidates in 3rd Congressional District race say top focus is jobs

Candidates vying for the chance to represent the 3rd Congressional District gathered Tuesday evening in Vacaville for a political forum, jointly sponsored by the Vacaville and Fairfield-Suisun chambers of commerce.

Four of the race's five candidates, Rep. John Garamendi, D-Solano, and Republican hopefuls Eugene Ray, Rick Tubbs and Kim Vann, were on hand for the 6 p.m. face-off held at Travis Credit Union, where they answered five questions book-ended by three minutes of opening and closing remarks. Candidate Tony Carlos was unable to attend the event.

With questions ranging from bipartisanship, tax cuts and government regulation, Garamendi wasted no time in his opening statement, emphasizing that the most important task is to restore the job market.

"It's all about the future. It's all about where this nation can and must go, and it starts with jobs," he said. "That's our job. Job No. 1 is jobs. We have to get his economy back on track."

According to Vann, Colusa County supervisor, the U.S. is at a pivotal moment.

"The only way we can restore these American dreams and get this country back on track is for our government to set the tone so that businesses can create these jobs, not government. It's not our job to do it," she said.

The first step, Vann said, is eliminating what she dubbed the "regulatory insanity" imprisoning the business community and the "out of control" tax code.

"It's time for us not to hope for a leader that will enact change, but for us to vote for change," she said.

When the topic of working across the aisle came up, Tubbs, a Vacaville resident who also serves as the commander of a Reserve C-17 unit at Travis Air Force Base, said the issue ultimately comes down to finding commonality.

"I'm here as a Republican, but first I'm an American," Tubbs said, adding that he has "seen both sides," having grown up on welfare, been a union member and served in the military.

As with his military service, Tubbs said that, should he be elected, he would continue to fight for Americans, regardless of their party affiliation.

"It's very important that we put our country first," he said, urging the need to go back to the Constitution the country was founded upon to find common ground.

"That's a commonness for all Americans that I think we can agree on and work for," he said.

Ray, a Vacaville resident, observed that, despite the rhetoric volleyed back and forth by Republicans and Democrats, "The vast majority of Americans are just a little left or right of center."

"If you take your solution and it makes sense, and you take it to the people, the people who are their electorate can put enough pressure on them to get them to vote," he said.

Lines were drawn when the topics of budgeting and taxation came up, with Ray stating, "You don't tax your way to success."

"It just takes some logical sense," he added.

Garamendi countered, calling the Republican plan to balance the budget an "austerity budget of steroids" and something that would produce "one of the most skewed tax codes in the world."

While Ray, Tubbs and Vann were in agreement in their view that the U.S. economy is over-regulated, Garamendi cited the regulation of deep-water drilling, health care and other issues, concluding, "When it affects your personal health, when it affects your children's well being and the air in which they breathe or have to breathe, we ought to be very careful."

A self-described "optimist by nature," Ray stated that the role of government should be like that of a referee and get out of the way.

"They don't determine the outcome of who's going to win or lose. They should make sure that everybody knows the rules and that everybody plays fair," he said.

"We are at a point where we have to choose representatives who will put this district first," Vann said, adding that it is the only way the country can expect to move forward.

"It is time for new blood, new ideas," Tubbs urged. "The trillion-dollar deficit shows the failure of those that are there. ... It's no time for status-quo politicians who keep trying the same things over and over again and keep failing.

"It's time to elect people who care about making things right, about solving the problems to save this American dream for future generations."